January 4, 2010

Unusual Tales - The Men From Hsin-Chiu

"Unusual Tales", a series presenting Steve Ditko's comics from 1957 to 1959 that are in the public domain.

Charlton's SPACE ADVENTURES #26 [1958] features the odd 5-page "The Men From Hsin-Chiu" drawn by Ditko. It features a teacher in China telling a story about a doomed planet and their version of Jor-el having slightly more luck in saving some of his people from the destruction of his planet when his predictions aren't believed by the leaders.

Not quite sure what I think of this story, I guess if I was generous I'd say it's a dated product of its time.

Nice art by Ditko, though. Of interest to those looking for echoes of work a few years in the future, take a close look at the window in the background of the middle panel of page 2.